The labor-intensive features inherent in fruit-picking operations by means of a hand-held fruit picker make it desirable to provide an apparatus which maximizes the operator's productivity while minimizing damage to the fruit as well as to the fruit trees. These requirements are only inadequately met in prior art. A number of conventional hand-held fruit pickers do not provide receptacles for the newly picked fruit; once it has been detached from the tree, the fruit is made to fall to the ground at the risk of being bruised or squashed in the process. Other prior art fruit pickers include receptacles which depend from a pole on which fruit-detaching means are mounted. The uneven weight distribution caused by the presence of fruit in such receptacles makes it difficult for the operator to balance the pole, particularly in the dense foliage typical of many fruit trees. Another drawback is that such receptacles can be emptied only by pouring or lifting the fruit therefrom, which is time consuming and, moreover, involves considerable stooping and bending.
The present invention intends to overcome the limitations of prior art by providing a simple, light-weight fruit picker which is easy to operate and which can be produced at a price that the small-orchard owner can afford to pay. Accordingly, a hand-held fruit picker is disclosed which comprises a rigid, elongated tube, with one inlet end and one outlet end, of which the outlet end is closed or sealed by a spring-biased pivotally movable cover. A pair of spring-biased knives are secured adjacent to the open inlet end of the tube at an angle relative to each other.
One of the knives is pivotable to advance toward, and away from, the other of the knives which is fixedly attached to the tube. During the advancing movement, the cutting edges of the two knives close over the fruit to detach it from the tree. The attitude of the knives with respect to the open end of the tube is such that the detached fruit drops into the bore defined by the tube, in which its descent is decelerated by air baffles or vanes attached to the inner wall of the tube. A layer of cushioning material is deposited on the interior surface of the cover at the closed tube end, to absorb the impact of the fruit falling through the bore.
In a preferred embodiment, a portion of the tube continues as a longitudinal extension beyond the open tube end. The semi-cylindrical wall thus formed serves as a backstop for fruit held between the knives. The concave surface of the backstop is lined with foam rubber or a similar cushioning material to protect the fruit against bruising.
One handle is attached to a portion of the tube wall proximate its closed end; a second handle is attached to a portion of the tube wall at an opposite location from the first handle, and distal from the closed end. The handle proximate the closed end includes a first pivotable lever which is operatively connected with the pivotable knife adjacent the inlet end of the tube. The handle distal from the open end includes a second pivotable lever which is operatively connected with the pivotable cover. Each of the levers is biased at an angle with respect to the handles by a coil spring mounted between a portion of the lever and a portion of the handle. The levers are spaced from the handles on which they are mounted by a distance such that the handle and the lever thereon may be gripped in one hand and the lever squeezed toward the handle.
The manipulation of the first lever results in the advance of the pivotable knife toward the fixed knife. The release of the squeeze, and the subsequent retraction of the extension coil spring, restores the lever in its previous position and thereby effects the retraction of the knife from its engagement with the fixed knife. The manipulation of the second lever causes the cover to swing away from the closed end of the tube, to permit discharge of the fruit therethrough. The release of the squeeze and the subsequent return of the second lever to its previous position causes the cover to snap back to its closing or sealing position.
The first lever and the pivotable knife are connected to one another by flexibe rope means, including a turnbuckle which is adapted to adjust the rope tension. The means connecting the second lever and the cover include a flexible rope attached to a rigid rod. A coil spring located between the second lever and a spring seat provided on the rod maintains the cover in the closing or sealing position unless it is displaced therefrom by a movement of the second lever. Upon release of the lever the cover is urged toward a closing or sealing position by expansion of the compressed spring.
The design of the tube, the placement of the handles with respect to the tube wall, and the placement of the knives with respect to the open end of the tube, facilitate the operational orientation of the tube at an angle with respect to the stance of the operator on the ground. This has the advantage of aligning the direction in which the tube is pointed with the operator's line of vision during the fruit picking process, and prevents fatigue due to neck twisting and craning. Other advantages of the present invention, both as to its construction and mode of operation, will be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals designate like parts throughout the figures.